LUKE: Hey, we better go look for her. Han nods, and signals to a Rebel officer. HAN: Take the squad ahead. We'll meet at the shield generator at 0300.
So I'm guessing the rest of the team just went ahead with what they were supposed to do, camped somewhere near the generator for the night and waited for their intrepid leader to show up the next morning. Which means they might have even witnessed Luke surrendering to an Imperial patrol. (Now that would have been interesting.)
In the RotJ novelisation, there's a dialogue that is not in the movie. As our heroes get to the shield generator and see there're only four scouts guarding the back door, Han tells Leia, "If Luke can keep Vader off our backs, like you said he said he would, this oughta be no sweat. Just gotta hit those guards fast and quiet..."
I don't know if that dialogue was in a previous version of the script or if James Kahn was bothered by the same questions you've just mentioned and decided to fill those gaps the best he could, but since I've had this book since I was 11 and have it practically memorised, in my mind that's always been the official explanation given to Luke's absence. I always imagined Han covering up for Luke and telling everyone that it was his -- Han's -- strategic idea and command to send Luke as a diversion when they realised that Vader was on the moon. But admittely, that's just a fanfic (that I still need to write).
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LUKE: Hey, we better go look for her.
Han nods, and signals to a Rebel officer.
HAN: Take the squad ahead. We'll meet at the shield generator at 0300.
So I'm guessing the rest of the team just went ahead with what they were supposed to do, camped somewhere near the generator for the night and waited for their intrepid leader to show up the next morning. Which means they might have even witnessed Luke surrendering to an Imperial patrol. (Now that would have been interesting.)
In the RotJ novelisation, there's a dialogue that is not in the movie. As our heroes get to the shield generator and see there're only four scouts guarding the back door, Han tells Leia, "If Luke can keep Vader off our backs, like you said he said he would, this oughta be no sweat. Just gotta hit those guards fast and quiet..."
I don't know if that dialogue was in a previous version of the script or if James Kahn was bothered by the same questions you've just mentioned and decided to fill those gaps the best he could, but since I've had this book since I was 11 and have it practically memorised, in my mind that's always been the official explanation given to Luke's absence. I always imagined Han covering up for Luke and telling everyone that it was his -- Han's -- strategic idea and command to send Luke as a diversion when they realised that Vader was on the moon. But admittely, that's just a fanfic (that I still need to write).